Just Another Afternoon
by El-Nadador
Summary: A day or two in the lives of the Turks. It's Reno's birthday, Elena has a crush and a revelation, Rude just watches and laughs. Again, New chapter Mornings always bring stress... Finished for now
1. Birthday

Rude leant back in his chair, staring at the ceiling for a second or two. He'd only been there ten minutes, and already he was bored out of his mind. Endless paperwork was the only thing he hated about his job, and that went for everyone else too. With a heavy sigh, he sat forward and bent over the report he was writing.

Seconds later, he heard someone enter the room, rustle some papers, tut and groan, and walk back out again. Rude didn't even have to look up to realise that it was Reno walking in late and spotting the mound of folders and files on his desk. However, he quickly returned and walked towards the window. Rude peered over the top of his sunglasses to see the skinny redhead with his forehead and forearms rested on the window, staring out into the endless smog.

'You know, even with all that crap in the air, the view is better from up here than it is from down there…' he murmured, eyes darting to the plates below. Rude leant back in his chair again and put his hands behind his head.

'Happy birthday, Reno…' he said, his mouth curling into a rare smile. Reno snapped up from his concentration in surprise, probably not realising he had spoken out loud.

'How did you know it was my birthday?' the redhead asked quickly, eyes narrowing out of some feigned suspicion. Rude chuckled and leant forward again.

'Simple. You always get kinda…_philosophical _on your birthday…'

'Seriously?'

'Yep. And to get you out of that mood…I gotcha something…' Rude finished, ducking under the desk briefly. One arm reached back up, placing a bottle of whisky on the table, and another, followed by a bottle of vodka. Reno could only gape.

Rude reappeared, finishing his magnificent round of gifts with a shabby plush chocobo. Reno stuttered for a second, gathered himself, and then pointed at the chocobo.

'What's that?'

Rude crossed his arms and grinned again.

'Found it. Heard that Elena doesn't like chocobos…figured you could use it to annoy her with…'

Reno gathered the bottles and the toy and staggered back to his desk. After setting them out in a row, he sat down smiled in genuine happiness.

'Aaaaw…Man, you didn't need to do this…It's only my birthday. I didn't deserve _three_ bottles…' he said, eyeing the alcoholic volume of the vodka. Rude shook his head.

'Hey, don't sweat it…it was three for the price of one down at the store…so, did you get anything else?'

Reno snorted, and leaning back in his chair, he counted off the gifts on his fingers.

'Booze, booze, more booze…Rude's booze,' he sniggered, waving towards the bottles on his desk, 'oh, and you can't forget my mom, listen to this, this is classic…'

Reno trailed off as he reached into his back pocket for a letter and a minute green orb. Spreading out the piece of paper and smirking at Rude, he cleared his throat and read.

'_Dear Renaldo…' _(Reno grimaced at his hated full name) _'Just writing to wish you a very happy birthday.__ I enclose one fire material (make sure you know how to use it) as I heard that catching monsters by Kalm can be a dangerous business! Well done for getting promoted to zookeeper, we're all proud of you. All the love in the Lifestream, Mom. P.S – Your brother joined SOLDIER and has cut off all ties with us. So very disappointed in him. Don't ever join Shinra, will you darling? Love, Mom'_

Reno found it hard to read without laughing by the end. Rude chuckled and shook his head. The redhead folded up the letter and placed it next to the laptop on his desk, eyes drifting back to the alcohol again.

'So I suppose you still haven't told her about your job…how long can you keep it up, man?' Rude asked, the laughter still present in his voice. Reno looked slightly ashamed for a second.

'Well, I've managed to keep it up for five years so far…it's getting pretty bad though, she really does think that I work for the zoo on the Plate…Y'know, I was considering writing to her the other day pretending to be the manager or whatever, telling her her son got mauled by a Grangalan and tragically died of his injuries or somethin'…' At this, Rude laughed out loud again, '…I wasn't joking, man…'

Their amusement was interrupted as Elena bounded into the room, arms completely full with folders and papers. They watched in amazement as she filed them all in seconds, leaving a single package in her hand. She smiled and gave a gentle wave to them both.

'G'morning, folks! How are you?' she beamed. Reno shook his head and put his feet up on a desk.

'Fine, fine, fine…Hey Elena, you're way too good at admin to be in the Turks. Why aren't you a secretary or something? You wouldn't have to wear your uniform…' he smirked.

'And we'd see your legs more often…but Reno, she's also way too good at snapping necks…what would happen if you ran into secretary Elena at that time of the month?' Rude added, grinning also. Elena made some noise of protest and irritation, but gave up before she began ranting. She just sighed and fiddled with the package.

'Well…on a secretary's salary, I wouldn't be able to afford this, Reno,' she held out the package and blushed furiously, 'Happy birthday…'

Reno grinned and took it from her, chuckling at her apparent embarrassment.

'Thanks Elena…hey, why you doin' this? I'm normally such a bitch to you…' Reno said as he tore of the brown paper. His face lit up with some child-like excitement when his gift was revealed, Elena only burned redder.

'Oh my GOD! Elena, you are the KING!' Reno yelled, throwing his arms around her, then slapping his hands either side of her face and pulled her in for a big theatrical kiss. She giggled madly, though slightly taken aback. Rude's head snapped back up from his work.

'Jeez, what's all the commotion? What did she get you?' Reno spun round and flung the ticket in his face.

'A VIP pass to the Gold Saucer! Basically, I never have to pay again, for ANYTHING, and I get to jump the queues at Battle and Speed Square!'

Rude just laughed. Elena, recovering from her attack, cleared her throat and tapped Reno on the shoulder. Still staring at the VIP Pass, he grunted to show he was listening.

'Um…there's something else, I saw it on the way here…it's no way near as good as that though, just, er, you know…something…' Elena mumbled, awkwardly pulling it from her back pocket. Reno grinned again and snatched the gift from her outstretched hand. He carried on grinning as he inspected it.

'Alright! A little pen with a Costan girl on it…cool, thanks…' he laughed and turned towards the desk to put it down.

'No, wait…turn it upside down…' she giggled, gesturing what she meant. Reno did so, and smirked when he saw what happened.

'Well hello there, would you look at that! Heh heh heh…' Reno repeated the action over and over, and the office went quiet again. Elena fiddled with her jacket briefly, still blushing and looked at Reno. He was still flipping the pen up and down. She cleared her throat as she did before.

'Er, well…seeing as it's your birthday, are you going…do you want to go out anywhere…?' she mumbled. Reno stopped the pen for a second, looked at her with one eyebrow raised. He sighed heavily, then put his hands on her shoulders. Elena looked at him quizzically.

'I'm so sorry…Elena, thanks for asking and all, but…I'm gay.' Reno forced all the sincerity he could muster in this last statement.

Elena's face froze up and looked as if she was going to burst into tears. She flung his hands off of her shoulders and stepped back.

'Not you too! For God's sake, is everyone in the Turks bent-er, I mean…uhhh…' Reno and Rude had burst out laughing again. Rude managed to gather himself as best he could and grabbed her arm.

'Don't listen to him, he's not…' he sniggered before laughing again. Reno sighed, still giggling.

'Aaaaaah….sorry 'Lena, couldn't resist…anyway, sorry, I don't do dates…I'll happily get smashed with you pair though. Yeah…what's all this with the Turks being bent?'

Elena narrowed her eyes at him, still irritated by his joke.

'Why else do you think I'm not after Tseng's ass anymore…?' she muttered coldly. Reno gaped for a second, but quickly covered it up as Tseng happened to walk into the office. He raised one eyebrow at the mess and the bottles, and then returned his gaze back to Reno.

'Happy Birthday Reno…I trust you found my gift on your desk?' he said sarcastically, the corners of his mouth tugging into a cruel smile. Reno fearfully eyed the stack of papers and stuttered something about doing them in a minute. Tseng nodded and left again without a word. As soon as he was out of the room, Reno span back round to Elena.

'You gotta be jackin' me, seriously…' he said. Elena shook her head, grinning mischievously. Shrugging, Reno walked towards his paperwork tentatively and groaned, 'Rude…can't I just burn it…? It's probably not that important anyway…'

Rude sat up from his desk again and crossed his arms.

'No, Reno…remember, you tried to Fire 3 it last time and it cast Ultima on you and you got the day off to recover…'

Reno groaned and then paused, turning to face Rude.

'Day off you say…? Where'd I put mom's fire material…?'

There should be a new chapter relatively soon. Nothing special, just a bit of fun. Note:- I'm looking for a beta, and if anyone could lend me a hand I'd be much obliged. Cheerio.


	2. Party

New chapter. Think of this as about six hours on from the last chapter. Time for fun!

'Elixir. Take 10ml every half hour or as required…oh man, I hate this stuff…' Reno mumbled as he debated pouring either 10 or 20ml. In the end, he shrugged and downed the contents in one gulp. He grimaced and coughed hoarsely, '…aaahh…some good shit'

Elena got up from her desk and walked over to Reno's. Pushing the paperwork that had once again attacked him to one side, she sat on it, facing Reno. Wearily, he looked up at her.

'What's up…?' he croaked. She shrugged.

'We're clocking off in an hour, and I reckon that Tseng won't let you go without doing that,' she said, grabbing some of the papers, '…and I'm done, so I'll give you a hand.'

Reno just groaned. His head still hurt.

'Can't…can't I just burn them?'

Elena sighed in exasperation.

'For goodness's sake Reno, no! When you did it a week ago, it cast Ultima on you. You tried about half an hour ago, it attacked you with a thousand tiny paper cuts…is it really that hard for you to do work?'

Reno grinned. The Elixir seemed to be perking him up.

'Hey, how was I supposed to know Tseng had equipped a Counter materia in there somewhere?' he laughed, holding his hands up in protest. Elena hopped off his desk and bundled well over half of the papers into her arms.

'By learning from your mistakes. Now put that little pen I gave you into good use and start filling out those forms!'

Reno groaned and slammed his head on the table. Still with his head to the desk, he roughly seized the top form on the pile and the little red pen. He took one look at it, opened his mouth to complain but gave up before he started. He just mumbled something about it being his birthday and got down to ticking the boxes.

_7: 45 pm_

Tseng marched into the office, expecting to find Reno annoying Elena with half the paperwork strewn across the floor. Instead, he found Elena filing, Rude at work as always, and Reno peacefully neatening the papers on his desk. He shook his head out of disbelief and walked over to Reno's desk.

'By the way, thanks for doing all that…it wasn't that hard anyway, was it.' He said calmly. Reno looked up from something he was drawing, grinning broadly. Surprisingly, Reno was pretty good at his doodles, seeing as he only discovered he could draw when he joined the Turks. Tseng looked at him questioningly.

'What's that? Nothing inappropriate, I hope-'

He was cut off by Reno thrusting the drawing into his face. From the blur, he could make out it was a comic strip.

'This, boss, is the itinerary for tonight's mission, 'Operation Wasted Turks and Birthday Party'. See, look – there's me coming out of my house and meeting you guys at the bar approximately…30 yards from my house. Then, there's Rude there with the vodka, Elena getting picked on by some idiot, and me with the babes trying hard not to take them then and there. Do you wanna come? I can pencil you in in that gap there…'

Tseng just looked blankly at the drawing.

'The babes just look like boobs with legs to me.'

'Yeah, precisely. Babes.' Reno said, grabbing his pen and drawing something quickly, 'There. And finally, that's you, getting a liiiittle too much attention from some guy with a moustache and leather tank top.'

Tseng narrowed his eyes at Reno before going to walk out. Just as he left, he turned in the doorway.

'Ok…I'll go out with you guys. You can go early, if you like…The bar approximately 30 yards from your house, right Reno?'

_9:02 pm_

The door of the bar slammed open. Virtually every eye in the joint moved to see who had entered. Of course, they saw Rude first, then Tseng, Elena and then Reno coming in last with his hands in his pockets and an oversized badge shouting 'It's My Birthday!'. Most just sighed and turned back to their drinks. Just the Turks on a binge again.

Tseng tentatively sat down in the Turks' favourite corner seat towards the back. Elena followed, crossing her legs. Reno and Rude swung by the bar. Reno banged his hand down on the counter and called out.

'Barkeep? I got 450 gil here, and it's my birthday, get us something that will make us so drunk we'll destroy half our brain!'

The barkeeper just nodded nervously and complied. Rude sighed and smiled. Reno, for all his childish behaviour, knew how to have a good time. Reno however just stood grinning like a madman, eying up the girls to the left of him.

'Hello there ladies…it's my birthday, how about helpin' me celebrate?' he smirked. The girls, expecting just another lecherous idiot talking to them, turned round and were pleasantly surprised. Sure, Reno could be a lecherous idiot sometimes, but at least he was extremely good looking. He carried on talking to them both as the barkeeper returned with a huge bottle in hand and four shot glasses. Rude took them, nodded in thanks and made his way back over to the table, leaving Reno at the bar with the girls.

Elena folded her arms and frowned as Rude handed out the glasses.

'Ugh…he offers to take us out and then abandons us…'

Rude just smiled.

'Don't worry, as soon as he oversteps the mark he'll be back with us.'

Sure enough, Reno sauntered over quickly to the table. The girls were bustling out in the door's direction. He was smirking as always, even with the red hand mark on his cheek. He took the bottle and filled up each glass whilst the others just watched.

'And you don't mind that you've just been slapped? Reno, for someone with a reputation like you, you are crap with girls.' Tseng said finally. Reno opened his mouth in mock offence. After downing his drink, he spoke.

'Lies! They just weren't up for it…outside. Anyway, drinking games…no pin the tail on the donkey at MY party!'

_1:25 am_

Rude was sitting cooped up in the corner seat. With his sunglasses on, anybody could have sworn he was asleep or had passed out. However, he was wide awake and pretty aware – you had to be going some to get Rude really drunk. He just sat and thought, whilst Elena and Reno opposite him just carried on drinking and flirting. Tseng had long since left, his reputation for being a lightweight holding true. He casually observed Elena and Reno, only to find that they appeared to be eating each other's faces. Hah. Would they hear it in the morning.

'Time, folks…' The barkeeper called. Rude stood slowly and threw a bundle of notes down on the table. Striding around the table to Reno and Elena, he grabbed them by the shoulders and yanked them apart.

'Either you two get a room or get kicked out…I'm going.' He murmured.

The other two just looked at him, then back at each other again. Reno smirked and licked his teeth, Elena giggled and Rude just rolled his eyes. The bald Turk moved towards the door, when at the last second he was jostled out of the way by his companions, staggering past hand in hand. Once the fresh air hit him, his eyes travelled towards the door of the apartment block approximately 30 yards from the bar, only to see the redhead attempting to unlock it at the same time as unbuttoning Elena's blouse. He grinned to himself. Oh yes, would they hear it in the morning.


	3. Morning

_Just a quick one to finish.__ Please review! Bye for now!_

The warm and soft pillow beneath her head slowly rose and fell in a gentle rhythm. A few thoughts strayed into her consciousness…that's odd. Pillows don't breathe.

Elena's eyes fluttered open. She was in fact resting on her front with her head on someone's chest, not a pillow. One arm was resting round his waist, the other above her, buried in a mass of hair. This was the first time for a while she had woken up like this…but who was this person she leant on? The arm round his waist tenderly moved up and caressed the soft outline of his muscles. Just right, she thought. Not big and built up like Rude, more…lean and powerful. More like –

_Reno_

In an instant, all remaining memories of the previous night hit her with the force of a train. She twisted her head upwards, only to find the hair in her hand was flame red…and that could only mean one thing. She heaved herself up, flinging her hands to her face in shock and revulsion. She had been casually draped over him, not a scrap of clothing on either body, with a thin sheet to cover them. The blonde, now blushing furiously with fragments of last night's scene rushing through her head, scooped up the sheet and covered herself with it.

Reno frowned and stirred slightly with the sudden reduction of warmth. Then, just as she had done, his eyes opened groggily to see Elena's mortified expression. Taking a second or two to realise what must have happened, his eyes widened and he sat up slightly, resting on his elbows. Elena just nervously slid off the bed using the sheet as a makeshift toga, and started to look for her clothing. She glanced back over at Reno who appeared to be in some pain.

'I'm stuck to the freakin' bed, help me…' he moaned hoarsely.

'Oh, no. I'm not helping you. Not after what you've done to me!' Elena replied hotly, finding her voice. Reno just struggled a bit more, finally sitting forward sharply with a yelp of pain. Elena carried ignoring him, whereas he twisted round to see what stuck his back to the bed.

'Jeez, what _I did to you_? What have you done to _me_?' he said, realising it was caked blood from the deep scratches in his back that had stuck him down. Then suddenly, the predatory smirk reappeared, '…So I was that good, huh…'

In answer to this, Elena just threw his clothes at his face and made a strangled noise of irritation.

'For fuck's sake Reno, your ego doesn't need any more inflation! Oh my word…' she shot, clasping her hands to her forehead with the last statement, '…no-one can know about this. I bet Rude already knows…I'm so embarrassed…'

Reno just laughed.

'Oh come _on_, it's not like you're the first one at the company that was a bit loose for a night! How do you think Scarlet is where she is? And she still sends for me every Friday afternoon…'

'Don't care. We're already an hour late for work and I'm going to have a shower. Don't ever talk to me again, Reno.' Elena retorted. Reno just snorted and fell onto his back again.

'…How can you be so active in the mornings…? Do you seriously not suffer from hangovers?' he murmured, drifting off again.

_10:25_

In a similar fashion to the previous day, Rude was the only one in the office. He sat thinking, as always, hoping that what happened last night wasn't going to ruin anything. And again, somebody stormed in, and left again pretty rapidly. It didn't sound like Reno, however.

'You alright Elena?' he called out. She returned quickly, covering one side of her face with her hand. Rude smirked. Now he saw why Reno loved annoying people about something or other. The chance to poke fun now was irresistible.

'Come on, you don't need to hide away…was it really that bad then?' he said casually, sitting up fully, arms flung over the back of the chair. Elena moaned in frustration and threw the papers she was attempting to file down.

'For your information, it happened to be the best I ever had! Yeah! That shut you up. But unfortunately, that's exactly the problem right now!' She yelled back. The burning was creeping back into her face again, and she bent over to pick up the papers, 'He'll milk it for all its worth…and I will **never** hear the end of it!'

Rude just shook his head, smiling.

'Don't worry about it, you're not the first Reno got…active with.'

'I know…he said that too…' she muttered in response.

'No, seriously…those marks on his cheeks? He did that to himself a couple o' years ago. 'Cause of a girl.' He said quietly.

'What, she put a dent in his ego or something?' the blonde snapped, still frustrated with the whole situation.

'No. She died.'

Elena looked up for a second and was suddenly calmed by it. She bent back over again and busied herself with collecting papers, ashamed about what she said.

'That's…that's so sad…' she said at last.

Unfortunately, the momentary feeling of pathos that had descended on the room was shattered when Reno moonwalked through the door, singing 'We are the Champions'. He danced all the way over to Elena, did a little twirl, and finished with a slap on her behind. She yelped and jumped up.

'You _bitch! _A second ago I was actually feeling sorry for you!' the blonde shouted. He just winked at her and swaggered to his desk. At that precise moment, one of Reeve's Cait Siths wandered into the office and up to Reno's desk.

'Excuse me, Mr Reno Sir? Miss Scarlet craves a word with you, sir-' he announced in his nasal little voice, only to be cut short by Elena drawing her handgun and planting one between its squinty eyes. The other two Turks just looked intimidated for a second by this outburst, and their heads turned to look at her. She just threw the gun to one side and started filing.

'You heard it Reno. Scarlet requires your services as a man-whore.' She said, the anger present in her voice. Rude smirked; Reno shrugged and moved towards the door. Just before he left, however, he span round, twirling his hand into a bow. He stood up with a smirk.

'Gentleman, Lady, I take my leave of you…' he said before strutting down the corridor. Rude glanced at Elena who was now crimson, her hands balling into tight fists. He went back to work and smiled to himself.

No worries there then…it'll be the same as any other day.


End file.
